Does a 30-minute unpaid meal break still qualify under the FLSA if employees can barely leave the building? A new DOL opinion letter says yes – and the reasoning matters for any employer operating a large or secured facility. The…
News
Mid-year minimum wage increases catch more payroll teams off guard than January changes do. Several state, local and industry-specific minimum wage changes take effect on July 1, 2026, including in Alaska, Washington, D.C., Oregon and several local jurisdictions. Minimum Wage…
A federal court has blocked the $100,000 H-1B visa fee, ruling it was an unlawful tax and removing a major cost driver from workforce planning assumptions, at least for now. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston…
Illinois' Family Neonatal Intensive Care Leave Act took effect on June 1, providing employees with children in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with unpaid, job-protected leave. For Payroll, that means new administration, coding and tracking requirements for the new…
A new DOL opinion letter addresses off-the-clock work, rounding policies, and the de minimis defense – and the conclusions should prompt a hard look at pre-shift timekeeping practices. The question came from a public hospital with roughly 18,000 non-exempt workers.…
Does dual-role scheduling put your overtime compliance at risk? A new DOL opinion letter says it depends on the specific facts of the arrangement. The question came from an academic medical center, but the answer applies broadly to any employer…
Finance teams are using more AI and automation than ever, but the real question is whether they make invoice-to-cash work faster, cleaner, and less error-prone. The top goals of teams that manage the invoice-to-cash process remain the same – to…
Here's a common rollover scenario: An individual leaves one employer for another. The previous employer offered a 401(k) plan. The individual rolls over the money in his or her 401(k) into an individual retirement account (IRA) sponsored by the new…
Maryland payroll teams have a hard deadline: Jan. 1, 2027. That's when contributions to the state's new paid family and medical leave program begin – and the rate is now set. In April, the state DOL reaffirmed that the Family…
A rule that hadn't changed since 1954 may be getting an update. The IRS has proposed eliminating the 1099 filing requirement for payments under $2,000, with the threshold rising with inflation every year going forward -- if the rule is…
Maine's Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program began paying benefits on May 1, 2026. The state DOL runs the program with Aflac as claims administrator; payroll contributions have run since January 2025. PFML Contribution Math and W-2 Reporting For…
The minimum wage for certain federal contractors increased to $13.65 per hour on May 11, 2026. The tipped cash wage rose to $9.55. Here are the details. First, it's important to clarify that the rate change applies to federal contracts…
